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### Making Assumptions About the Past

When restoring a classic car (**o clássico**), you often have to guess what happened to it before it arrived in your garage. To express a strong deduction about the past—saying that something "must have" happened—use the present tense of the verb **dever** (must), followed by the perfect infinitive.

The perfect infinitive is formed using the auxiliary verb **ter** + the **past participle** of your main verb.

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### Missed Opportunities and Regrets

You will also frequently need to talk about what "could have" or "should have" happened during a difficult project. For these unfulfilled actions, the structure is nearly identical, but you must shift the modal verb into the conditional mood.

To say what *could* have happened, use **poderia** (or the matching conditional form of *poder*), followed by **ter** + the **past participle**.

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To express regret or advice about what *should* have happened, use **deveria** (or the matching conditional form of *dever*), again followed by **ter** + the **past participle**.

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### Back in the Garage

Let's apply these structures using some additional mechanical vocabulary, such as **o radiador** (the radiator), **o pedal** (the pedal), and the verb **soldar** (to weld).

Notice how seamlessly you can switch between past assumptions and past regrets depending on the situation.

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Past assumptions and missed actions (deve ter / deveria ter)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prefix

prep

preposition

pron

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstratives and the verb to be (isto é, o, a)

Subject pronouns and negation (eu, não)

Yes/no questions and question words (quem, o que)

Plural pronouns, articles, and verbs (somos, são, os, as)

Origin and possession (de, do, da)

Introductions (chamar-se)

Indefinite articles (um, uma, uns, umas)

The verb to be for locations (estar)

Contrasting the two verbs to be (ser vs. estar)

Preposition for locations (em, no, na)

Numbers 0 to 10 (zero, um, dois)

The verb to have (tenho, tem)

Regular -ar verbs (falar, trabalhar)

Regular -er verbs (comer, beber)

Regular -ir verbs (abrir, partir)

My, your, and our (o meu, a nossa)

His, hers, and theirs (dele, dela)

Adjective agreement and placement

Days of the week (segunda-feira)

Months of the year (janeiro)

Counting by tens to 100 (trinta, quarenta...)

Telling time (é uma, são...)

Asking about time (quando, a que horas)

The verb to go (ir)

Prepositions of direction (a, para)

Preposition a contractions (ao, à, aos, às)

Prepositions of place (ao lado de, em frente de...)

Demonstratives (este, esse, aquele)

Contractions with demonstratives (neste, desse, daquele)

Asking which and how many (qual, quanto)

Plurals ending in -ão (-ões, -ãos, -ães)

Plurals ending in consonants (-ns, -is, -es)

The verb to like (gostar de)

The verb to need (precisar de)

The verb to want (querer)

The verb can or may (poder)

Expressing obligation (ter de)

Adverbs of degree (muito, pouco)

Quantifiers (muito, pouco)

Comparatives (mais... do que, menos... do que)

Equality comparisons (tão... como)

The preposition com (comigo, contigo)

Coordinating conjunctions (e, mas, ou, porque)

The preposition por (pelo, pela)

Double negation (nunca, nada, ninguém)

Present continuous (estar a)

Near future (ir)

Past tense of regular -ar verbs

Past tense of regular -er and -ir verbs

Past tense of ser and ir (fui, foi)

Direct object pronouns (me, te, o, a, nos, os, as)

Pronoun placement with negatives and questions

Greetings and courtesy (bom dia, obrigado)

Physical states with ter (ter fome, ter frio)

Asking the way (à direita, sempre em frente)

Colours (vermelho, amarelo, cor-de-rosa)

Money and shopping (custar, a moeda)

Getting around (o motorista, a paragem de autocarro)

Weather and seasons (faz calor, o inverno)

Omitting the subject pronoun

Where things are: ficar (Onde fica...?)

Richer questions: que + noun and é que

Numbers above 100 (cento e vinte, mil)

First-person sound changes (durmo, prefiro)

Advice and ability: dever and saber

Asking why: porquê and porque

When one thing happens: quando-clauses

Here and there: aqui, aí, ali (cá e lá)

Formal and plural possessives: o seu, o vosso

Irregular presents: ver, vir, dar

Present irregulars

Reflexive verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Stem-changing reflexives

Attached object pronouns (-lo, -la, -los, -las)

Nasal attached pronouns (-no, -na, -nos, -nas)

Pronoun placement with adverbs

Past tense of fazer, dizer, and trazer

Past tense of ter, estar, poder, and saber

Past tense of querer and vir

Past tense of ver, dar, and ler

Past tense reflexive verbs (-se)

Time elapsed in the past (há)

Question	Answer
the classic	o clássico
The restoration of the classic must have been expensive.	O restauro do clássico deve ter sido caro.
the rust	a ferrugem
the sheet metal	a chapa
The rust could have destroyed the sheet metal.	A ferrugem poderia ter destruído a chapa.
the exhaust	o escape
rusty	enferrujado
He could have repaired the rusty exhaust.	Ele poderia ter arranjado o escape enferrujado.
the bumper	o para-choques
the scrapyard	a sucata
They must have bought the bumper at the scrapyard.	Eles devem ter comprado o para-choques na sucata.
the upholstery	os estofos
You should have finished the restoration of the upholstery today.	Tu deverias ter terminado o restauro dos estofos hoje.
the shock absorber	o amortecedor
We should have changed the classic's shock absorber.	Nós deveríamos ter trocado o amortecedor do clássico.
The classic must have been in the scrapyard.	O clássico deve ter estado na sucata.
She should not have sold the upholstery and the bumper.	Ela não deveria ter vendido os estofos e o para-choques.
Could the mechanic have replaced the shock absorber and the exhaust?	O mecânico poderia ter substituído o amortecedor e o escape?
The sheet metal must have been very rusty.	A chapa deve ter estado muito enferrujada.
I had a problem, so I should have removed the rust.	Eu tive um problema, por isso deveria ter tirado a ferrugem.
The restoration was increasingly difficult, but they could have finished.	O restauro foi cada vez mais difícil, mas eles poderiam ter terminado.
to weld	soldar
the radiator	o radiador
The mechanic must have welded the radiator.	O mecânico deve ter soldado o radiador.
You should have bought a new radiator, so do not use the car!	Deverias ter comprado um radiador novo, por isso não uses o carro!
the pedal	o pedal
If you had removed the rust, I could have welded the pedal.	Se tivesses tirado a ferrugem, eu poderia ter soldado o pedal.
The previous owner must have damaged the pedal, so we are going to replace it.	O dono anterior deve ter estragado o pedal, por isso vamos substituí-lo.

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